There's an interesting new site that's been launched today as mentioned in this new post on Laura Thomson's blog - Ning.

Well, now I can reveal why I haven't been blogging (or doing much else for that matter) since I started my new job.

I've been working on Ning, (previously gossiped about as Marc Andreesen's new startup 24 Hour Laundry). It is amazingly cool. Ning is a free online service - as they like to call it, a playground for building social apps. You can make an app in about 5 seconds by cloning an existing app if you don't want to or can't code. Or clone one and hack on it. Or write your own from scratch.

With just a cursory glance at the site it really looks like it has potential (run on PHP, of course). It allows you to create your "own take" on various sites, including craigslist, Match.com, Flickr, Facebook, and many more. Go check it out!

Other bloggers are talking about this too:

• Andi Gutmans
• Chris Shiflett
• George Schlossnagle
• Joshua Eichorn
• cyberlot
• Amy Hoy